When Nathan was seven years old, his great-grandmother read him a story about soulmates. She mentioned ‘colors’ and ‘love’ but when he tried asking about them, she only told him he would understand when he was older.
At age eight, he asked his mother, Maria, about soulmates.
“A soulmate is someone who is destined to be with you for the rest of your life. They’ll love you like no one else in the world. When you meet them, you’ll feel very happy and warm inside. Like a billion little butterflies in your belly,” She said while tickling his stomach, making Nathan giggle. “You’ll be able to see the color of the sky, of the grass and of your soulmate’s eyes,” She paused. “You’ll find your home,” she finished with a soft, sad smile. She kissed his forehead and tucked him in for the night.
When he was nine, he asked his father, Edward, if Maria was his soulmate. His father scolded him.
“Soulmates are for stupid people who don’t have anything better to do with their time than to believe stupid ‘supernatural’ myths. I’m not surprised you would be the one to ask such a childish question. Leave, boy. I’m finished talking to you,” He took a sip of his glass filled with liquor and pointed to the door. He walked towards the door and paused. Nathan knew his father would yell at him if he continued to push the subject, but he believed his question was too important to go unanswered.
“Do you know what color mommy’s eyes are?”
Nathan expected a smile to dance across his father’s face as he recalled the first time he met Maria. Instead, his question was answered with a glass of whiskey flying towards his head. Fortunately, he ducked in time, but not without being showered in glass shards and amber liquid. His mother ran into the room to rescue him as his grandmother helped him get cleaned up. It wasn’t until later that Nathan realized that his father and mother were not soulmates. His father did not know the color of his wife’s eyes or what “true love” felt like.
He felt an immense sadness and pity for his father. He wondered what his mother felt, to have a child with a man she did not love. To know that she did in fact have a soulmate, but she could never be with them because she was forced to marry an angry alcoholic and have a child with said man. Nathan promised himself he would find his soulmate, even if it took him 70 years. He didn’t want to be like his mother and father and live a miserable and loveless life. He would try his hardest to find the person destined to love him for each and every flaw he had. He would find home.
In the middle of his freshman year, the school requested they meet with Nathan’s parents for a conference to discuss the Soulmate Test every freshman would have to take. Edward refused to go, excusing his absence as “work related”. Nathan thought otherwise. His mother on the other hand, has accepted immediately. The conference lasted 15 minutes and which discussed only what to expect during the test. There was one warning though, which made Nathan nervous.
“There are, unfortunately, a percentage of people who don't have a soulmate. It is very small percentage, but we always have a handful of students who are devastated to know they won’t have a soulmate. In those special cases, we will contact you immediately, but for now we have nothing to worry about,” said the head nurse of the school.
His mother smiled, telling them Nathan would surely have a soulmate, and said her goodbyes. Nathan forced a smile but felt sick thinking over the warning the nurse had given him. Nathan couldn’t sleep that night. He kept thinking he would be the ‘lucky’ student to not have a soulmate.
A week after the conference, the testing for soulmates began. Each time the man in the white lab coat would interrupt his classes to call up the new participants; Nathan would tense up and silently pray they didn’t call his name. It wasn’t until the second week that he was called.
The man interrupted his class as usual. He called out the names of the five students, but someone in the front let the man know that the fifth student did not show up to class. Instead of moving on with just four students, the man flipped the page and called out the next person.
“Is Nathan Carbonell here today?” asked the doctor.
Everyone turned to look at Nathan.
“Yes sir,” Nathan answered from his seat.
“If you could follow us down to the infirmary so we can start, that’d be perfect,” said the doctor, as he turned to leave.
Nathan felt his stomach drop to his knees as he stood up and followed the group. When they got there, the doctor told them to sit outside in the chairs and wait for each name to be called. One by one, the names were called, until he was left sitting with one other person. As they moved over to sit by him, Nathan locked eyes with a beautiful bright eyed boy. Though they could only see in black and white, Nathan knew there was something different about the color of this boy’s eyes. Nathan felt his stomach do flips, and the boy smiled at him softly.
“Hey, are you alright?” asked the boy, with a concerned expression, probably because Nathan wouldn’t stop staring at him.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just nervous,” Nathan lied.
“Ha, yeah, same here. My name is Grant Rogers,” the boy said, extending his hand.
As Nathan extended his hand in return, the head nurse called him in.
“Sorry, I have to take my test. See you around school. My name’s Nathan by the way,” he said, smiling at Grant.
“Yeah, no problem. I’ll probably get called soon. See you around school,” Grant smiled back.
When Nathan got settled in the infirmary, he was forced to fill out a 35 question survey. They were the typical “Are you allergic to any medicine?” questions but even then he couldn’t stop thinking about the boy and his wonderful smile. He quickly filled out the remaining questions in hopes to finish his test and go back to meet Grant. He turned in his questionnaire and waited on the doctor to begin. The process did not take long. It was a simple injection that made his wrist itch and his head spin. He thought he could see colors momentarily but when he blinked, they were gone. He mentioned it to the doctor and the doctor explained it was a side effect and that it wouldn’t last more than five minutes. In the end, his results concluded that he did have a soulmate and that one day, he would meet them. Nathan sighed in relief and then asked what to expect when he did meet them. The doctor described the experience with a fond expression.
“Well there’s a burst of color around you after the first contact. A handshake, an accidental bump in the hallway anywhere practically. Your vision is overwhelmed by it all so it’ll take a minute or two to adjust to the drastic change. Usually there is a slight headache but when you realize you’ve met your other half, you don’t really feel it. You see the color of their hair followed by their eyes. Black and white is beautiful, but not as much as your partner in full color.” smiled the doctor.
Nathan thanked the doctor and nurse and retrieved his things and headed towards the door. As he walked out, he bumped into someone which sent both of them falling on their butts. When Nathan looked up, he was met with the familiar bright eyes he encountered earlier, except now there was something different about them. They were no longer the black and white shades they were before. Nothing was in the familiar black and white shades anymore, he registered. Both Nathan and Grant stared at each other in awe as they grasped what happened.
“I knew there was something different about you!” Grant laughed.
“I could say the exact same thing about you!” Nathan laughed back.
They stood up, helping each other up and hugged.
The doctor and nurse were standing at the doorway and witnessed the scene unfold. They smiled and congratulated both boys and informed them they would need to make phone calls to discuss their situation. It wouldn’t be easy for them, as both of them were boys, but it wasn’t uncommon to hear about. Love is love, and that’s all that should matter. Nathan was just ecstatic to know he wouldn’t have to wait to know who would love him eternally. He felt exactly like his mother had described to him; ‘warm and happy inside like a billion butterflies’. Nathan found his home and it was all he could ever wish for.